I think it will be a priority to sign elm street long term this off season.. He's finally becoming the player a lot of us hoped he would become and pass rushers are hard to come by.. With a healthy Suggs and Kruger playing at a high level our d will be almost back to our old days... I think Webb and ckykie brown would be a good starting cb duo. Lets draft us a ilb and a tackle and we will be good to go

Yup, I just cannot see this team letting Kruger walk. I can't. Not with the way pass rushers are regarded in this league, and with Suggs getting up there in age and who knows what he's going to be like next year (if he's even healthy by then), we HAVE to sign Kruger.

For next year, we need to fill voids at ILB (Lewis retiring, Ellerbe/McClain hitting FA), FS (Reed likely retiring), and DL (who knows what we have at NT right now, and we need a LE).

I think Chykie Brown is DEFINITELY showing something to the coaches to prepare himself to be a starter next year, along with Corey Graham and obviously Webb. Hopefully Jimmy Smith can figure his act out and play like a 1st rounder, or else he's pretty much done for.

It will all come down to $$ like it always does -- right player, right price. I like Kruger and think we should try to keep him -- but I don't view him as a $10M/year player which is likely what he'll get.

Well if we let him walk you can escalate pass rusher to our #1 draft need, as usual

Silver-lining, we would have a good chance of getting a 2014 3rd round comp pick _________________

I would really like for the Ravens to find a reasonable way to keep Kruger around. That doesn't seem too likely though in my opinion. They definitely need his pass-rushing ability but with how highly those guys are valued it seems like he's going to get a big offer from somebody. Here's some more figures tweeted by Aaron Wilson today:

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Aaron Wilson ‏@RavensInsider
For 2013 fiscal year, Ravens have 42 contracts currently on books, including $1.8 million in dead money for released kicker Billy Cundiff

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Aaron Wilson ‏@RavensInsider
Ravens' current 2013 total is $108.329 million against salary cap.

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Aaron Wilson ‏@RavensInsider
That includes middle linebacker Ray Lewis' $7.3 million cap figure before retirement, which creates $4.35 million in savings agains cap

With Lewis retiring that leaves roughly $103.98 million against the salary cap for 41 players. If the salary cap stays around $120 million like it's expected to that leaves the Ravens with about $16 million in cap space before they tender their RFAs and EFAs. Add in either a new deal or the franchise tag for Flacco and that more than takes up whatever cap space the Ravens have available. I know this isn't anything new but I'm just giving everybody an idea on what the actual figures are roughly going to look like.

As of now I'm expecting them to keep Boldin around and they'll probably give him an extension that significantly lowers his cap figure for next season. The same goes for Jones. I'd like to see a quality receiver prospect brought in but in that situation there wouldn't be a lot of room for anybody else and a receiver group of Boldin, Smith, and Jones isn't terrible (and could look pretty good when used correctly).

Getting back on the topic of cap management I think it would be tough to restructure the contracts for either Suggs or Ngata given how much it would increase their cap figures for future years. Yanda just had his deal restructured in March so I'm not sure how likely of a candidate he would be either. Then the next two biggest cap figures on the roster are the contracts for Rice and Webb who each come in at over $5 million. They could be good candidates for restructuring. It's tough with the Ravens because they don't really have any bad contracts there's just a bunch of moderate figures.

To keep Kruger alone, not even considering the other non-Flacco free agents like Reed, Ellerbe, and maybe Williams (I hope he signs somewhere else), would take some work assuming he's looking for or offered a deal upwards of $9 million a year on average. Of course if he gets a deal like what Ray Edwards receiving from the Falcons ($30 million over 6 years with $11 million guaranteed) then it could be reasonably doable.

Lewis retiring definitely helps the cap situation (and avoids awkwardness next season). I think Ellerbe comes back, but I think Williams and Kruger are both going to be gone. While I'd like Kruger back, I think that he has played himself into a contract of 9M a year+ which just might be too much to swallow. I think Williams will be severely overpaid somewhere by a team that's putrid in the secondary so I don't even really think about that one.

Regarding the WR situation, I definitely think that Boldin gets extended to lower 2013 cap number. Before the season I thought Jacoby would be a one-year guy, but I've LOVED him on ST's and I think he is a solid contributor as the 3rd WR. Maybe lower his cap number with a 3 year deal (i.e. 2 year extension), rolling a bunch of his current base into a SB? I would like another WR prospect, but I don't mind rolling into next season with LaQuan Williams, Tandon Doss, Tommy Streeter, and Deonte Thompson competing for the #4 and #5 spots._________________

But what do we do with Ed? I'm fairly certain that he stated he wanted to keep playing during the regular season. It'd kill me to see him in a Patriot or Jets uni.

Well if Ed wants to keep playing, that's on him. I think we release him after this season, or seriously try to push him into retirement because at this stage it makes no sense to have him play next year unless he shows significant improvement in coverage and tackling, which isn't likely._________________#FireDeanPees...and Chris Hewitt....and Matt Weiss

I have a feeling that if we don't make it to the Super Bowl at a minimum this year that Ed becomes a ring-chaser and signs with New England in the offseason. Him and Belichick have some weird bro-love going on. Might have something to do with the fact that they both look/dress like homeless dudes._________________

I have a feeling that if we don't make it to the Super Bowl at a minimum this year that Ed becomes a ring-chaser and signs with New England in the offseason. Him and Belichick have some weird bro-love going on. Might have something to do with the fact that they both look/dress like homeless dudes.

I have a feeling that if we don't make it to the Super Bowl at a minimum this year that Ed becomes a ring-chaser and signs with New England in the offseason. Him and Belichick have some weird bro-love going on. Might have something to do with the fact that they both look/dress like homeless dudes.

I don't know. Homelessness is cold enough in Bmore, can you imagine NE? I could see him going to NOLA. I'd love him back though. If we bring him back, he'll likely be "cheaper." He was the highest paid safety in the league this year IIRC and had proration related to his SB factored in. If I'm not mistaken, his total cap number was somewhere ~9.5M. Even on a somewhat sweetheart deal (big bonus, backloaded in terms of base) I think we could easily fit him in and treat him year-to-year._________________

That should be pretty close and I believe it is after you take Lewis off the roster. It's also before the RFA's and EFA's are tendered though. The Ravens usually keep just about all of those guys and that's going to take up a good chunk of that cap space.

The Ravens have about $102m committed to 36 players next year (after taking into account Ray Lewis retiring and the resulting cap space and dead money). Then you need to add about $8-10m iirc for all of the RFAs and ERFAs before you get to franchising/contracting Flacco_________________Stone85 & mike23md on the sig!

The Ravens have about $102m committed to 36 players next year (after taking into account Ray Lewis retiring and the resulting cap space and dead money). Then you need to add about $8-10m iirc for all of the RFAs and ERFAs before you get to franchising/contracting Flacco

And with the way he's playing this game...CYA!_________________#FireDeanPees...and Chris Hewitt....and Matt Weiss

The Ravens have about $102m committed to 36 players next year (after taking into account Ray Lewis retiring and the resulting cap space and dead money). Then you need to add about $8-10m iirc for all of the RFAs and ERFAs before you get to franchising/contracting Flacco

Yeah it would be 36, not 41 like I mentioned before. I'm not sure where I got that number from. With as many draft picks as the Ravens are likely to have and the few roster spots that will be left available after you factor in the RFA and EFA tenders it's going to be interesting to see if they try and consolidate their draft picks (AKA trading up) since they'll probably have 11 of them after the compensation picks are handed out.

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Aaron Wilson ‏@RavensInsider
There's nothing new on joe flacco contract front talks have always been tabled until offseason after getting close in aug. then hit impasse

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Aaron Wilson ‏@RavensInsider
Because of tight cap situation ravens plan to aggressively ramp up talks after season to avoid franchise tag for joe flacco per a source